


Just You, As You Are.

by Ironpen



Series: Galaxy Brain [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Obi-Wan Kenobi Needs a Hug, Padme is the sunshine best friend for these two dorks, Palps is mentioned but not actually a character, former obitine mentioned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:53:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28256472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ironpen/pseuds/Ironpen
Summary: “I don’t want any of them. I want you.”“Prove it.”Anakin thinks Obi-Wan could do better.Obi-Wan sets him straight.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker
Series: Galaxy Brain [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1993621
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27
Collections: Obikin Secret Santa 2020





	Just You, As You Are.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [maragny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maragny/gifts).



> My secret santa gift to Marangy! It's a Modern Magic AU where people have Aspects. Dearest thanks to silameninggal and unfortunate17 for being Betas, even when all the grammar made my head spin and the deadline gave me anxiety. XD
> 
> These Aspects are umbrella terms for the related groups of powers people express. Most people don't tend to get more then one or two facets of their aspect. Of course our boys had to go above and beyond.

_Solstice Eve...._

His door slammed open before dawn had truly begun, the blue morning barely peeking through the windows. Obi-Wan had a small light on, but relied mostly on memory to make his first cup of tea before plopping onto the rickety kitchen chair before the heavy slam had disturbed him. He knew only one person that would just barge in unprompted and wondered what had Anakin so riled? 

There was the harsh slap of parchment as it slammed onto the thin wood of his kitchen table that had Obi-Wan blinking his bleary eyes open. In the dim light, Anakin’s mask looked even ghastlier than normal, hard shadows carving the sharp edges of it out of the gloom, as the taller man loomed over him. 

A harsh thunk redirected his attention downwards, and he squinted at the lettering, praying it would uncypher itself, and it did.

To Renator Obi-Wan Kenobi.

‘ _Oh no, not again,_ ’ Obi-Wan thought as closed his eyes and groaned in exasperation. He wondered how they got here. Ten months ago he and Anakin had barely been speaking. Now, they’d grown close again, enough for him to come pester him at dawn about something Obi-Wan had been resolutely ignoring. 

* * *

_10 months previously…._

Obi-Wan Kenobi sighed as he looked around his sparsely furnished apartment. He’d moved in a week ago and had barely unpacked. What he had was the basic bed-linens, kitchen and bathroom supplies, out of their boxes and nothing else. He didn’t even have his web access set up yet. He had barely been inside the apartment except for sleeping, cooking, and showering in fact, so it was not like it mattered. 

Obi-Wan had been throwing his all into his new job at the Monarchy, helping the supplies come in, getting the initial baking done, and even helping Padme set up all the decorative butterfly decals in their proper places. He was at the cafe by dawn and by dusk was too tired to do more than crawl into bed. He placed his cup of tea in the sink and grabbed his coat and bag to go to work.

Opening Day had arrived and it was already promising to be hectic by the line already waiting at the door. 

“Obi-Wan, you made it early! Get your uniform on, Padme wants us opening in a half hour!” Dorme said as she bustled by with a tray of crepes.

Obi-Wan changed quickly in the employee bathroom, switching shirts and attaching the decorative pin they all received. Firmus slid into the room a moment after and quickly changed from his own school uniform.

“Hey Mr. Kenobi! You hear that the boss wants us to keep an eye out for a masked guy?” The redhead gave the teenager a surprised glance.

“She did?” Firmus nodded, “She said he might not show up but if he does we have to tell her and let him stay.” Obi-Wan gave the boy a nod as he left the bathroom himself to put his bag away.

Obi-Wan sighed again as he ran a hand through his hair, patting it back down from where the spring wind had disarrayed it. He did not expect to be here at Monarchy. He’d gone to college for philosophy but no job he took seemed truly fulfilling. He came back to Coruscant to see if going back to his roots would help. Returning to those roots also meant the chance of running into Anakin, especially working for Padmé.

Padme Naberrie was one of his best friends, his only best friend after what had happened with Anakin. Obi-Wan had known her since she moved into their part of town when they’d been twelve. Her Sun aspect powers had been a soothing norm as his and Anakin’s own powers started to slip into strange directions. She’d become something like their true north and maybe that was why even when Obi-Wan and Anakin began to drift apart, she still managed to stay by Anakin’s side.

Thinking about Anakin made his stomach tighten with nerves. If Anakin did appear then Obi-Wan resolved to leave him alone for the day. They had barely spoken these last eight years and starting again on what was bound to be a trying day was asking for it to go horribly wrong. And that’s if Anakin even _wanted_ to speak to him.

A knock at the door and Dorme calling out in question drew him from his thoughts and he collected his things to put away for the day.

* * *

His shoulders and feet were aching but the tables weren’t going to wipe themselves down, and he did not want to deal with it early next morning, so he would get it done despite his protesting limbs. Most of the rest of the staff had already left but he was in no hurry to leave yet. The last table was occupied by their somewhat expected customer. 

Anakin Skywalker looked much the same since Obi-Wan had last seen him. However, that wasn’t surprising since Anakin had been wearing that hideous Vader mask since he was nineteen — after his mother had passed. Nonetheless he still wore dark colors, thick fabrics, and gloves. It was like he was trying to become a shadow. He was still tall and could blend into the background, yet still demand the attention of an entire room in an instant if he wanted to. 

Today it seemed like Anakin didn’t want to draw any attention. He’d entered quietly and taken the unwanted seat by the kitchen doors. It was only Obi-Wan’s hyperawareness of Anakin’s potential arrival that had caused him to notice his arrival in the first place. Throughout the day, Obi-Wan found himself sneaking glances at Anakin when he had a spare moment, checking to see if he’d disappeared as quietly as he’d appeared. He didn’t, and now they were the only two people still in the front of the cafe. 

Padme was still bookkeeping in the office upstairs, but she was likely to come down soon. With this in mind, Obi-Wan returned behind the counter and prepared three cups of coffee. Grabbing a straw for Anakin, he brought them over and sat down heavily, eyes falling closed in relief. His feet were protesting the amount of time he’d been on them and he didn’t want to stand up again anytime soon.

An unrefined slurping noise made Obi-Wan open his eyes to the amusingly clashing sight of the masked man gulping down his coffee through the mouth-hole in his macabre accessory with the straw.

"I wasn't expecting you to make it today," he settled on saying. "You usually avoid the crowds. I'm sure Padme will thank you with a whole cake for showing up." This was probably one of the longest sentences he’d said to Anakin in the last eight years. Though he had been the one to move away for college, the silence hadn’t been entirely wanted on his side. However, on Anakin’s end, he seemed content for Obi-Wan to disappear once out of sight.

“She doesn’t need to. I wanted to make it.” Anakin said. Obi-Wan held back a shudder at the sound of his voice. It was slightly distorted because of the mask, but it was also obvious his voice had deepened from the higher baritone he’d had at twenty, settling into a soothing rumble.

“Oh, you _did_ make it!” Padme said, stepping through the kitchen doors with one of their delivery boxes, obviously a gift for Anakin.

‘ _Speak of the queen and she shall appear._ ’ Obi-Wan thought, hiding a smile behind his cup. She was going full force today, dressing in a silky cream dress with a pale sheer layer, embellished with butterflies, smiling as bright as a summer’s day. 

“Well if it isn’t the queen herself!” The magical mask couldn’t hide the good cheer in Anakin’s voice as he stood to hug Padme, her small form all but disappearing in the folds of his long dark coat. He had taken to wearing dark colors as if wearing any other shade would kill the shadow he tried to become.

“You went hard on the decor huh? I don’t think I’ve seen this many butterflies since that time you dragged us to the sanctuary,” Anakin said, gesturing to all the iridescent decals on the walls that glowed faintly in the store lights and the decals that mimicked stained glass on the storefront. Even the menu signs had tiny butterflies on the wooden frames. 

Not that butterflies were the only insects detailed on things but Padme had embraced the monarch butterfly aesthetic since she’d finally settled on Monarchy for the cafe’s name. Corde, Padme’s cousin, had in fact talked them into picking their own themed item. He rather liked his little glass scarab pin that Corde had made for him.

Obi-Wan remembered that trip. It’d been in their last year of high school, during spring break. Shmi had all but shoved Anakin into the car with them, claiming he couldn’t spend his youth holing himself up in the garage with his bots. It had been a fun day at the butterfly sanctuary , they’d walked all over the gardens and he even still had a picture of Anakin, in a ski mask, covered in butterflies when he’d taken a short nap. Before Shmi had passed and Obi-Wan had left, that had been the day he hoped the most to cross the chasm that had been growing steadily wider the last three years. He had not succeeded.

Now though, watching Anakin try to refuse the small carrot cake Padme was trying to give him, he wondered if maybe he could become friends, not with the boy he’d known, but the man he’d become.

* * *

Obi-Wan glanced at Anakin as the two of them walked home. He hadn’t expected that Anakin would be going in the same direction as he would. But after Padme had finally wrangled Anakin into taking his cake, she’d finally shooed them out the back door so she could close up and take her own well-earned night off. Watching Anakin give into the small brunette's aggressive gifting was still as funny as ever, as it'd always been since Anakin finally topped his height, a full head taller than her. Obi-Wan was only two inches shorter than Anakin but they'd both taken full advantage of the height jokes. Most of the height was leg and Anakin seemed to still subconsciously slow his pace so Obi-Wan didn't have to jog to keep up. He resolutely did not allow the soles of his feet to jump in pleasure, there was no pep in his step.

Obi-Wan lived close enough that he didn’t mind the walk. It was a nice apartment building in a good part of town and it was surprisingly affordable. He doubted that he would have managed to find anything as nice without Padme’s recommendation. He hadn’t had the chance to explore much, see if the same shortcuts and hole-in-the-walls remained. The fountain Park seemed to have stayed much the same, from what he'd glanced at as he passed by daily, he could hear the trickles of water over their unhurried steps.

He took another glance at his momentary companion, the pastel order box was held protectively close but his stride was confident and remained unhurried. Should he try to strike up more conversation? Padme’s entrance had distracted Anakin entirely or had he just taken the most convenient excuse to stop their conversation? Should he ask if he wanted to stop to chat at his new apartment? What would he even ask? ‘ _I know we haven’t really talked in years but I’ve missed you more then anything can we please be friends again?_ ’

And Obi-Wan had missed him, at college he'd missed him so fiercely that he'd thrown himself into every college stereotype trying to find his way without him. In fact that was one of the sticking points Satine had never let lie between them, one of the worst fights they’d had started when she’d said she couldn’t see why he wanted to get back in contact with someone that 'cold and crass'.

His best friend was anything but cold and even in the wake of this silence between them he knew it wasn’t because Anakin suddenly just decided to cut him out of his life. That he _didn’t_ know the real reason had only added to his confusion. Later he tried to convince himself it wasn't just something he'd done, Anakin's life had been in turmoil as Aphrodite's Looks isolated him and he'd sat through enough psychiatry lectures to know the teenage brain doesn't always need a solid reason to do something. 

He could have chalked it up to them just naturally growing apart, Anakin's engineering interests and his own philosophy interests seemed to not match up. He would have given up all hope if he still couldn’t remember what Anakin’s laugh sounded like, how warm his blankets were and how delicious his food was. 

Even as they really talked less and less Obi-Wan had still gotten Anakin to laugh like he hadn’t expected to find something that funny. Those startled but full laughs had been the best rewards, Obi-Wan gave himself metaphorical gold stars for achieving any. And then got entirely homemade bon-bons as a treat from Anakin for acing his tests and a new knitted piece of clothing for the Holidays. Those non-vocal gifts told Obi-Wan their bond was still as solid as ever. To this day he still had a sweater and blanket he kept well packed. 

At twenty-eight and walking beside Anakin again, he was both more and less sure of his conclusion. Or maybe it was because Obi-Wan's wants weren't the same as the'd been.

“This is my stop. I’ll see you, I guess.” Anakin’s voice snapped him out of his ruminating. The darkly dressed man was pointing to the entrance of his building….a very familiar entrance. The same entrance he had been quickly growing familiar with as he came and went for the last week. Obi-Wan stiffened slightly as he followed slowly after Anakin. The Vader mask looked very odd against the plain brownstone but the key was definitely the same style as his. He was going to curse Padme for this, nevermind that he couldn’t naturally curse at all. She had to know.

Anakin turned back to face him, a confused tilt to his head and he could only sheepishly hold up his own key in answer. Anakin, too, stiffened in discomfort. “It seems to be we’re neighbors. I’m in 4-C. I moved in last week.”

“....5-B. I knew someone new had moved in but I keep odd hours. I must not have seen you.” He held the door open for Obi-Wan to follow him into the lobby and then to the elevators.

“I’ve barely done more than eat and sleep there so I’m not surprised. If you...need anything, my door will be open.” He gets the offer out before he can doubt himself into taking it back. Anakin seems to remain unmoved. If there’s one thing he hates most about the mask it’s that it gives Anakin an excellent poker face. The elevator dings on the 4th floor and Obi-Wan steps out. He can’t help but turn around.

One jerk, a tilt down and then back up, is the nod he receives. “I’ll remember.” The elevator door dings again and Obi-Wan is left alone. When he steps into his apartment it feels colder than it ever has, like all sense of welcome has fled. When he pulls the blanket out to keep off the spring chill, it’s warmer than it’s been in years.

**Author's Note:**

> Could end up between 4 and 6 chapters depending on if the dialouge fights me. Hopefully the Betas can wring out more than I'm usually capable of XD.


End file.
